Heavy rain, gusty winds leave trail of destruction in farms in Karnataka's Tumakuru

Tiptur: Heavy rain accompanied by gusty winds lashed the taluk on Friday afternoon and throughout the night, uprooting hundreds of coconut, arecanut, banana and pomegranate plants, electricity poles and damaging houses. Farmers in the area suffered loss estimated to be lakhs of rupees.

Over 50 electricity poles came crashing down in the storm, triggering a blackout that lasted throughout Friday night and continued in many areas on Saturday. The storm destroyed around 15,000 banana plants, over 500 coconut trees and damaged over 15 houses.

At Madihalli village, over 100 fully grown coconut trees in the plantation that belonged to Siddalingappa were uprooted. In Bennanahalli, nearly 6,000 banana plants belonging to Manjunath, Kiran and Nataraju were destroyed. Another 6,000 banana plants owned by Shankarappa and Ghanshyam of Anchekopplu were flattened in the winds.

About 1,000 banana plants belonging to Giddamma, another 1,000 owned by Basavaraju of Mattihalli Gollarahatti, and over 20,000 banana plants cultivated by Ramesh M C of Mattihalli were also damaged. Many of the crops were fruit-bearing and nearing harvest, worsening the losses for farmers.

Crops flattened

Heavy rain continued in several villages under Kasaba hobli, including Mattihalli, Gurugadahalli and Tadasur. The residents of Karikere, Bairapura, Bidaregudi, Madenur, Bennanahalli, Madihalli and Sannenahalli also witnessed widespread destruction. Banana, arecanut, coconut, teak, mango, neem and pomegranate crops spread across hundreds of acres were flattened by the winds.

In Tiptur town, uprooted trees blocked roads and disrupted traffic during the night, while roof sheets of several shops were blown away.

In Mattihalli village, a massive 200-year-old peepal tree collapsed, damaging a purified drinking water unit and a temple building, besides snapping over ten electricity poles.

A team led by BESCOM Assistant Executive Engineer Manohar worked overnight to clear fallen trees from roads and restore electricity by erecting new poles.

The officials from the Revenue Department led by Tahsildar Mohankumar, a team headed by Taluk Panchayat Executive Officer Sudarshan, and a four-member team led by Horticulture Department Assistant Director Chandrashekhar visited affected villages on Saturday to assess the damage.

Kitchen roof

In Huliyaru, heavy rain blew away the roof of the kitchen at the Government High School in Borana Kanive, coming under the hobli limits. As the incident occurred at night, no casualties were reported.

Tin sheets had been installed over the RCC kitchen structure as protection from rain. However, gusty winds ripped them off completely and scattered them across the school premises. Some sheets were found hanging from electric cables attached to poles. The sheets were damaged beyond reuse, causing significant loss to the school infrastructure.

Moderate rainfall was reported in the Borana Kanive reservoir area. In Huliyaru town and nearby areas, drizzle accompanied by gusty winds continued through the night.

Waterlogging once again disrupted traffic movement in Huliyaru town, with water accumulating on roads due to unscientific drainage works along the national highway.

Banana plants damaged due to gusty winds. dh photos